New export guarantee for SMEs

EKF introduces the SME guarantee, a new targeted scheme which can improve the competitiveness of export companies and thus help them obtain more orders from customers abroad.

Indhold kolonne 1

Indhold kolonne 2

Indhold kolonne 1 række 2

Indhold kolonne 1 række 3

Indhold kolonne 2 række 2

Indhold kolonne 2 række 3

8 December 2010

Furthermore, EKF is increasing our focus on the needs of small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in connection with exports and has established a separate department for SMEs. EKF is thereby strengthening the initiatives that we have already established for SMEs.

An SME guarantee will allow an export company, in cooperation with a bank, to offer a customer from abroad a long-term credit for specific export orders. This could be of help, among others, if the customer is in need of liquidity here and now as a consequence of the financial crisis. Thus, to offer long-term credit could be a powerful tool when negotiating export orders with both new and existing customers abroad.

The SME guarantee offers the banks up to 100 per cent coverage of the risk related to offering foreign buyers long-term credit. This will allow the Danish export companies to be paid by the banks once the goods are delivered. Needless to say that the customer has be deemed creditworthy. In case of loss the company will normally have to bear a deductible of 10 per cent.

”The financial crisis has made it more difficult for SMEs to obtain credits in the banks for their foreign customers. EKF has a strong focus on helping these companies and has therefore developed an SME guarantee in cooperation with a number of banks. We hope that this scheme can help SMEs boost their export”, says EKF´s CEO, Anette Eberhard.

EKF offers SME guarantees covering orders up to DKK 25 million.

Applications involving amounts up to DKK 5 million can be processed by the banks themselves and EKF has promised the banks a short response time for all other types of applications. So far, Danske Bank, Nordea, Jyske Bank, Sydbank and Spar Nord have joined the SME guarantee scheme. These banks cover the majority part of the export financing of Danish companies.

“Jyske Bank is very pleased with the cooperation with EKF and we are ready to support our customers´ export opportunities under the new SME guarantee scheme. It is an excellent tool for Danish exporters to be able to offer financing of export orders when trying to develop and conquer export markets”, says managing director of Jyske Bank, Anders Dam.

The SME-guarantee can be used in most of the Danish export markets, including the BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China. The credit period covering foreign customers outside OECD/EU countries must be above six months and above two years when the customer is from OECD/EU countries.

The Danish company has to meet EU´s definition of an SME. The company must have less than 250 employees and a turnover of less than EUR 50 million or a balance of less than EUR 43 million.